‘I Can’t Believe We’re Still Talking About This!’ ABC’s Martha Raddatz Grills GOP Congressman Over Recent Trump Comments in Tense Battle
ABC’s Martha Raddatz got into a tense battle with a prominent House Republican over recent comments from former President Donald Trump.
In an interview on ABC’s This Week Sunday, Raddatz confronted Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) about Trump’s attack on Vice President Kamala Harris’s mental acuity. During a speech on Saturday in Wisconsin, the former president said, “Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. She was born that way. And if you think about it only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country.”
“Do you think Kamala Harris is mentally disabled?” Raddatz asked Emmer. “Do you approve of that kind of language?”
The Minnesota congressman totally ducked the question.
“I think Kamala Harris is the wrong choice for America,” Emmer said — before pivoting to a list of criticisms about Harris. But Raddatz quickly cut him off.
“Congressman, do you approve of that language?” Raddatz said. “Do you approve of that language, Donald Trump calling her mentally disabled, mentally impaired?”
“I think we should stick on the issues,” Emmer replied.
“So, you don’t approve of that, and you don’t think she is?” Raddatz said.
“I think we should stick to the issues,” Emmer responded. “The issues are, Donald Trump fixed it once. They broke it. He’s going to fix it again. Those are the issues.”
Raddatz then revisited the debunked claims from Trump and. Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) — who Emmer has been helping prepare for his debate this week with Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) — about Haitian migrants eating household pete.
“I can’t believe we’re still talking about this!” Raddatz said. “But the baseless claims elevated by Vance and Trump that Haitian migrants were eating their pets, that Mike DeWine even, governor of Ohio, said that is just simply not true. If the moderators in the debate ask Vance about this, should he finally make clear it is not true?”
“It’s such a distraction!” Emmer said. “The people in the mainstream media want to put up these shiny objects to distract people from what they see happen every day.”
Raddatz again jumped in
“Congressman – Congressman, Vance and Trump have talked about this!” Raddatz said. “Vance and Trump have talked about this issue. They brought it up.”
“I’m telling you, they’ve got to focus on the issues.” Emmer said.
“They will focus on the issues?” Raddatz asked.
“I think they’ve got to focus on the issues.”
The Minnesota congressman likely wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of appearing as a surrogate for Trump — given that Trump almost singlehandedly kept him from becoming House Speaker. Last October, Emmer’s bid for the Speakership was torpedoed by Trump when he attacked him as a “Globalist RINO” in a social media post. They reportedly mended fences in March — when Emmer hosted a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.
Watch above, via ABC.
